Slicing-machine



w. c. KNAPP AND H. T. LOCKMAN.

SLICING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED 7MAY 20. I918.

- Patented Dec. 27, 1921.

3 SHEETSSHEET I.

m i R W" $1 m a 3% 1 hfdneasea INVENTORS ATTORNEYS f-if? g m P- au/wr/ w. c. KNAPP' AND H. T. LOCKMAN. SLICING MACHINE.

I APPLICATION FILED MAY 20, 1918.

1,401,539, Patented Dec. 27, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

IIH

fifllizzesses INVENIORS flair ATTORNEYS- W. C. P AND H. T. LOCKMAN.

CING MACHINE.

APPL TION FILED MAY 20. 1918.

1,401,539, Patented Dec. 27, 1921.

a SHEETS-SHEET 3.

5 $663 INVENTORS 265w ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER CHANDLER KNAPIE AND HERBERT T. LOCKMAN, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS TO LIBERTY BREAD SLICER, INC., OF BRIGHTON STA., ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, A. CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

sucmomacnmn.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 27, 1921.

Application filed. May 20, 1915. Serial no. 235,534.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WALTER CHANDLER KNAPP and HER ERT T. LOCKMAN, both citizens of the United States, residing. at Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Slicing- Machines; and We do hereby declare the following to be a'full, clear, and exact descrip tion of the same, reference being-had to the accompanying drawings, forming a. part of this specification, and to the referencenumerals marked thereon.

Our invention relates to that class of machines which are used for slicing bread, meat, etc., and which employ a rotatlng knife or cutter, and in which means is provided for intermittently moving the material to be sliced into the path of the knife after each stroke thereof.

The object of our invention is to produce such a machine, which is simple in construction, easy to operate and efiicient in use.

Another object of our inventlon is to provide adjustable meansfor controlling the movement of the material to be sliced so that slices of any desired thickness can be out.

Another object of our invention is to provide means whiohar'e simple, easy to operate and inexpensive for adjusting the means which control the movement of the material and which .are within convenient reach of the operator.

To these and other ends the invention consists in certain improvements and combinations of parts, all-as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of the specification.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine embodying the features of ourinvention;

Fig. 2 isan end elevation thereof, viewed from the right of Fig. 1.;

Fi 3 is an end elevation thereof viewed from the left of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of the machine;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 2 with the fly wheel sectioned away to more clearly show the parts beneath, and drawn to a larger scale;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged section on the line 6*6" of Fig. 4;

Fig. is a perspective view of the adjustable eccentric removed, and

Fig. 8 is a sectional View on th line 8*8 of Fig. 1.

Similar reference numerals in the several figures indicate the same parts.

In the embodiment of our invention illustrated in the drawings, a support or frame is provided with a guide or chute for material to be sliced. A knife mounted on a shaft to be turned by hand or power cooperates with one end of the guide. The material is moved toward the knife intermittently between successive strokes thereof by means of a pusher which is moved along the guide by means of a worm shaft to which the pusher is operatively connected. Motion is transmitted to the worm from the knife shaft by means of a rod having a bearing on an eccentric on the shaft and pivoted at its opposite end to one member of a friction clutch which cooperates with a clutch member on the worm shaft. To vary the extent of rotation imparted to the worm, and hence the distance that the pusher is moved at each actuation to out either thick or thin slices as may be desired, we provide for adjusting the cocentric on the shaft to change the amount of eccentricity which controls the distance through which the rod is reciprocated. Means are provided for adjusting the eccentric through very small intervals, thus making it possible to accurately adjust thev machine for slices having slight differences in thickness.

The frame of the machine comprises two end pieces 1 and 2 connected by a main shaft 3, a guide or chute 4 for the material to be sliced, and a conntershaft or worm shaft 5 which moves the material being sliced. Each end piece of the frame rests on legs and has an opening therethrough communicating with the chute 4. The shaft 3 has bearings in the end pieces 1 and 2 and extends longitudinally of the machine over the chute 4. The shaft 3 extends beyond the bearings in the frame and at one end has a fly wheel or pulley 6 kc ed or other wise secured thereto. A handle 7 may be secured tov the fly wheel for manually operat- 1S intermittently projected between succeskeyed or otherwise secured v acent the hub 11 of the eccentric.

for adjustin 'sive strokes of appear.

Adjacent the frame pieces 1 and 2, the main shaft 3 has collars 10 secured thereto which prevent longitudinal movement of the shaft in the frame. Between the outsideeollar 10 and the innerface of a hub 11 on the wheel 6 the shaft is provided with fiat he faces 12' on opposite sides of the shaft and substantially parallel with each other. Seated on the shaft and engaging the flat faces 12 is' an eccentric 13 having a radial slot 14 which permits it to have a sliding adjustment on the shaft. The eccentric abuts the opposing faces of the collar 10 and the hub 11 which prevent longitudinal movement thereof-on the shaft. Means are provided the shaft. aid means comprises a screw 15 extending through a tapped opening in theshaft 3 and having a bearing in the cocentric at the bottom of the slot or opening 14 and in a yoke or bearing member 16 seated in the mouth of the opening 14 and secured to the eccentric by screws or other suitable fastening means, as clearly shown in'Fig. 6. Outside the bearing member 16 the screw has a knurledv finger piece 17 thereto by means of which the screw is-turned to adjust the.

eccentric. When the screw is turned, it moves transversely of the shaft and carries the eccentric with it by means of'its bearings therein. The engagement of the screw with the shaft maintains the eccentric in any adjusted position. The surface of the eccentric is slightly reduced in diameter adthe wheel 6, as at 18, and receives a strap 20 of a'reciprocatin rod or bar 21. The. strap is revented from movement longitudinally o the shaft by the hub 11, and the unreduced portion of The bar 21 extends downward adjacent the outer end of the worm shaft 5 where it is pivotally connected to a clutch member 22 by means of a shouldered screw 23. The clutch member 22 has a hub portion 24 loosely bearing on the end of the shaft and is prevented from endwise movement off the shaft by means of a cover plate 25 secured to the shaft by means of a screw threaded into'a tapped opening in the end of the shaft and through which the screw 23 extends into the clutch member 22. When the shaft 3 is rotated by means of the wheel 6 the eccentric 13 is rotated and transthe knife, as will presently with a radius of the circular I 7 wall 29 the eccentric transversely of -2 of the frame mits longitudinal reciprocatory movements to the rod 21 by means of the strap 20 bearing thereon. ments are transmitted to the clutch member 22'fromflwhich movement is transmitted to the worm shaft 5 by means of a cooperating clutch member, 26 keyed'or otherwise secured to the worm shaft 5. her 26 has a cylindrical cup 27 in which the member 22 is seated and on its inner side adjacent the member 22 is provided, with a friction surface, with which adog 28 carried by the member 22 erate. The clutch member 22 is provided with a segmental slot or opening 29 in which the dog 28 is seated. The dog has apivoted aring against-the apex of the slotand is. adapted to engage the frictional surface of the clutch member 26 at its other end. fOne wall 29' of the slot coincides substantially clutch member;

22 while the other-wall 29 extends at an These reciprocatory move-- The mem- A is adapted to 006pacute angle thereto. As a result of this 'construction, the wall 29 is longer than the wall 29,

and the dog 28 is longer than the b and slightly shorter than the wall 29 in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 5, the dog frictionally engages the inside of the clutch member 26which rotates with the clutch member 22.- Upon the return stroke of the rod 21', the clutch member 22 is rotated in the. opposite direction and the dog 28 dragged toward the longer side 29 of its slot and is released from on ement with the clutch member 26 by the action of. an expansion spring '30 seated between the dog and the bottom of an opening in the adjacent wall 29" of its slot and tendmg to move the dog'toward the wall 29". The construction is such that with each rotation of the main shaft 3, and consequently each stroke of the knife, the rod 21 is reciprocated to move the clutch member 26 in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 5. The distance through which the clutch member 26' and the worm shaft 5 connected therewith g is rotated at each reciprocation, can be accurately controlled and determined by adjusting the eccentric 13 to'vary its eccentricity by the devices previously described. The worm shaft 5 has bearings in the ends 1 and and throughout the greater part of its length between its bearings is provided .with a spiral groove .31]. The worm is located centrally beneath the guide or chute 4 and cooperates with devices for moving the material to be sliced at each actuation thereof. Slidably mounted in the chute or guide 4 is a follower or pusher 32 in the form of a plate having anarm' 33 depending through a slot 34 in the bottom of the chute and at its lower end has a bearing 35'on the worm shaft 5. Adjacent the bottom of the chute the pusher has a forward A When the clutch member 22 is moved projection 36 provided with a plurality of upstanding pins or points 87 which are adapted to securely engage the material to be sliced. For convenience in placing the material in the chute on the pins, one side 4 of the guide is made somewhat narrower than the other side. The hub of the bearing 35 has a handle or finger piece 38 formed integral therewith and extending toward the front side. of the machine. Adjacent the handle is formed an opening in which is seated a pin 40, the end of which is adapted to project into the bearing and engage the spiral groove 31. An expansion spring 41 seated against the outer contracted end of the opening is coiled around the pinand engages a shoulder 42 near the inner end of the pin. The inner movement of the pin is limited by the engagement of the shoulder 42 with a contractlon at the inner end of the opening. At each actuation of the shaft 5 the pusher is moved toward the knife by reason of the coaction of the pin with the spiral groove of the worm. As the pusher approaches the knife, its movements are automatically stopped by means of a circumferential slot 43 on the shaft 5 with which the groove 31 communicates and which is engaged by thepin 40 when it reaches the end of the spiral groove. Means are provided for disengaging the pin 40 from the shaft 5 so that the pusher can be returned or adjusted to any desired position on the guide or chute 4. Said means comprises a finger piece 44 pivoted to the handle 38 and to the end of the pin 40. The construction is such that when the finger piece 44 is pressed toward the handle 38, the pin is withdrawn from the slot against the tension of its spring and the pusher can be moved to any desired position along the chute. When the finger piece 44 is released the spring 41 returns the pin 40 into engagement with the groove. If desired, a second spiral groove parallel with the groove 31 can be provided, thus increasing the num ber of points along the worm shaft at which the pin'can make engagement with a groove.

If desired, a table or support 45 may be supported at the rear end of the machine adjacent the knife to receive the sliced material.

We claim as our invention:

1. A slicing machine comprising a frame provided with a chute for the material to be sliced having a longitudinally extending slot in its bottom, standards on the frame extending above the chute at opposite ends thereof, a main shaft rotatably carried at its opposite ends by said standards above said 0 'ute, driving means on one end of said shaft, a rotary slicing blade on the other end of said shaft cooperating with the end of said chute to slice the material, a worm shaft rotatably carried by said frame underneath said chute, a nut on said Worm shaft, a pusher for the material slidable longitudinally in said chute and connected with said nut through said chute slot, and a driving connection between said main and worm shafts at the end of the machine opposite said slicing blade for imparting step by step rotation to said worm shaft intermediate slicing operations of the blade.

2. A slicing machine comprising a frame provided with a chute for the material to be sliced having a longitudinally extending slot in its bottom, standards on the frame extending above the chute at opposite ends thereof, a main shaft rotatably carried at its opposite ends by said standards above said chute, driving means on one end of said shaft, a rotary slicing blade on the other end of said shaft cooperating with the end of said chute to slice thematerial, a worm shaft rotatably carried by said frame underneath said chute, a nut on said worm shaft, a pusher for the material slidable longitudinally in said chute and connected with said nut through said chute slot, an eccentric of adjustable throw on said main shaft at the end thereof opposite said slicing blade, a clutch device on the corresponding end of said worm shaft having smooth faced gripping parts, and a rod connecting said eccentric and clutch device for imparting step by step rotation to said worm shaft.

WVALTER CHANDLER KNAPP.

HERBERT T. LOCKMAN. 

